Amateur swimming club's urgent call for new members

Duns Amateur Swimming Club was founded in 1972 and is run by volunteers at the Duns Swimming Pool.

It has attracted swimmers over the past five decades from across the Borders, East Lothian and Northumberland – with its most famous being Dan Wallace, who went on to win silver at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.

Other well-known faces to come out of the club include Euan Dale, who won two silver medals at the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne and also competed at the Beijing Olympic in 2008, and Team GB Olympics coach of 2016 Ben Higson, who is now in charge of the University of Stirling’s elite programme and was recently named as Team Scotland’s head swim coach for this summer’s Commonwealth Games.

New Duns coach Morag Stephens said: “It is great that the club has enjoyed that success and Dan, Euan and Ben retain strong connections to the club and have been great ambassadors – not just for swimming in Duns, but for sport across the Borders and Scotland.

“This club has helped so many people in so many ways over the past 50-odd years, so it would be such a shame if it had to close.

“We’re appealing to people across the region to think about joining the swimming club and enjoying the training, the friendships, the competition and just being fit and healthy.”

The main challenge facing the club has been rising costs of hiring the pool and securing volunteers to help coach has also been a problem.

But with a strong committee in place and Morag on board, there is a structure in place to keep the club going if it can increase the current membership from around 20 at the moment.

She added: “We train Mondays, Wednesday and Fridays, 6.30pm to 8pm currently, and while everyone can swim a few lengths, we have all abilities in there.

“And for anyone that wants to come along and just have a feel for it, we are offering one month’s free trial for newcomers.”

For further information, get in touch with the club via email – [email protected]